Which Bible is closest to Hebrew Bible?

Answer 1

All translations of the Hebrew Bible involve some opinion and interpretation. Accuracy in translation is not easy to measure. In my opinion, the best English translation is the Koren Tanach, published in Jerusalem.

THE FOLLOWING COMMENTARIES show the accuracies of the "NEW WORLD TRANSLATIONS OF THE HOLY SCRIPTURES"

*** g 11/07 p. 14 How The Bible Came to Us ***

Dr. Benjamin Kedar, a Hebrew scholar in Israel, made a similar comment concerning the New World Translation. In 1989 he said: "This work reflects an honest endeavor to achieve an understanding of the text that is as accurate as possible. . . . I have never discovered in the New World Translation any biased intent to read something into the text that it does not contain."

*** w04 12/1 p. 30 A "Remarkably Good" Translation ***

A "Remarkably Good" Translation

ACCORDING to one count, as many as 55 new English translations of the Christian Greek Scriptures were published between 1952 and 1990. Translators' choices mean that no two read alike. In order to assess the reliability of the translators' work, Jason BeDuhn, associate professor of religious studies at Northern Arizona University, in Flagstaff, Arizona, U.S.A., examined and compared for accuracy eight major translations,*** including the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures, published by Jehovah's Witnesses. The result?

While critical of some of its translation choices, BeDuhn called the New World Translation a "remarkably good" translation, "better by far" and "consistently better" than some of the others considered. Overall, concluded BeDuhn, the New World Translation "is one of the most accurate English translations of the New Testament currently available" and "the most accurate of the translations compared."-Truth in Translation: Accuracy and Bias in English Translations of the New Testament.

***[Footnote]

Besides the New World Translation, the others were The Amplified New Testament, The Living Bible, The New American Bible With Revised New Testament, New American Standard Bible, The Holy Bible-New International Version, The New Revised Standard Version, The Bible in Today's English Version, and King James Version.